PEARLS PARLIAMENT

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 109, 2 August 1902, Page 22

PEARLS PARLIAMENT

TH KB X is not a meinbei of tins House who can point to <i Miigle statute which has mcieaM'd 0111 taxation dining the past h\e \eais - Sir J G Ward. The people aie demoralised The borrowing policy of this Government and other Governments has done moie to demoiadise the people of the countiy than anything else All they look for now is a membei to> represent them who will get as much moneys as he can foi theai electorate —Mr Haseklen What is tihe use of sending out a few bundles of trees to a School Committee here and there to stick in the ground, when, possibly, directly afterwards horses and cattle w dl be trampling them down in consequence of the land not being seouralv fenced — Mr Flatman discourses on "Arbour Day " Mr. Meredith "As a representative of the people', he said the people w ould undertake the lesponsibihtv, and were prepared to> tax themselves to see that the troopers injured or w ith permanently impaired health were properly provided for " And yet there is a member of the First Contingent in Wellington, quite incapacitated from doing hard work, who has repeatedly aophed for light work, and hasi been as repeatedly ignored. The man in question is ■weil-educated , and ha® spent the whole of his savings in medical attendance This is probably no isolated case. An hon. member — We want a Fair Rent Bill. Mr. E. M Smith —We shall have a Fair Rent Bill if you give us time I can assure you. An hon. member. — No, you will not. Mr. E. M. Smith. — It will not be you that will stop it You are dead already. You aire only here on sufferance. It lequires a man like me to watch you people, I can tell you. The member for Geraldine reads his Lance. He says Some people argue that the sewing-machine is taking the place of work done by hand, but, though that may be the ease to some extent, there is darning amd other useful branches' of needlework taught in our schools which are certain to prove useful to many a girl in after-life." As am argument against a grant for sew-ing-maohinesi the above is not convincing. "Hemming" hankerohiefs is the principle feature of school sewing, and a handkerchief lasts a child a good many sewing lessons

>«o doubt. foieign croditois will cleuiIv see that the colon's is in a sounder position financially, aftei I have finishes I mv speech -- Mr Flatman Sn, it it is possible to bonow thiee millions and a quartei in, one veai with tlie indicator at Slow," all I can say is, Hca\cn holp the ciew and all concerned when the officer on the budge signals to the engmeei Full speed ahead "—" — Mi Massey uses a pictumsque lllustiation worn to death duimg last session The honourable a,entlenian sneeis about soup-kitchers being provided for those m distre&s when the Atkinson Go\ eminent was in power Would to God he had provided soup-kitchens for the men he cast adrift last Decembei . --Mr Pirani probes the Mmistei for Public Works. » # ♦ Are we not right in concluding that it is the hobnailed boots, not the hobnailed boots of the past, but the hobnailed boots of the Premiei on those 1 benches at whose sweet will he throws away what he says weie his principles in the past, and simply does as his master pleases?" Tins sentence is not intended as an exercise m parsing It is a lucid observation from the Opppsition side of the House. * # • An horn, member. — The Tongaporutu bridge w ill be finished in about two months. Now if that one little bridge was put over the Aw akino, as promised bv the Minister of Lands, then every bridge on the line of road between Taranaki and Auckland would be built. An hon. member — You want to meta] it. The irrepressible E M. — If you had the same metal as lam made of that w ould not take you long. * • # Last night I heard the honourable member for Auckland City (Mr. Napier) talking about the Main Trunk Railway and the way it is progressing. Now, he knows something about the subject because, he travelled over the route I even saw a very beautiful picture in the ''Observer" of the honourable member examining a bridge on the northern railway-line. Therefore, the honourable member for Auckland City ought to know the sitate of affairs there — Mi Haselden. * * * We have laws which provide for clearing away the timber, and it is the native timber which provides food for the trui and pigeon And sidei by side with that we have penalties imposed for killing the pigeon and the tui. a.t the same time that we punish a man for not outting down timber which, if destroyed, w r ould cause perhaps hundreds' of these birds to perish. We have laws to provide for the safety of imported birds and men are brought up to Court day after day, and year after year and fined for not covering their land from one end to thei other with strong active poison that, would certainly kill multitudes of these birds. We have laws to punish people for killing stoats and weiasels, and at the same time lads are brought up before the magistrates and punished for killing feathered game Others are punished for killing the great enemies of all feathered game. — Mr McNab.

Mr Monk — Tlie lepoiteis, those übiquitous gentlemen. \v*lu> aie with \ou no matter where you aie, and who, no matter whether you partake of beverages somewhat stronger than the pellucid stieam which flows at the bottom ot the Makohine Viaduct, record what w e say — " And even tins they made a note of I Mi. Pnam ii> hurt that some New Zealand soldiers had some of then cunos annexed at Somes Island. Really, r.obod> should be much incensed at the second-hand stealing. All the curios, fiom altar cloths to bandoliers and family bibles, were "commandeered," and the thieves" may probably be desirous of leturnmg them to the 011gmal qw ners ' Quite a. number of membeis have asked the Government foi 'a couple of pom-poms" captured in the Boei war. There are not enough to go round, of cooirse. Supposing Australian, Canadian, and Afrikander members each w ant a Boer pom-pom, the only wav to supply the demand will be to send a w holesale order to an European arsenal. * * * Mr. J. Allen would like Salvation Army Industrial Institutions exempted from the provisions of the Factories Act. The Army commander says that, they cannot comply with the law as regards wages, records and notices of hours of work, and age' restrictions. Why? * # • The member for Franklin. — We had a great flourish of trumpets a little time ago about the completion of the Makohine Viaduct. Why, sir, it is hardly completed vet , Ido not suppose it is finished now Mr. Napier. — Why, I completed 1. myself.

He f bought the geneial election should be extended beyond three years. Under present conditions a member's first year was taken up in breaking in the colts, in the second they settled clow n to some work, and m the third they were addressing their constituents again — Mr. T. MoKenzie. * * * Mr. Monk.— Sir Harry Atkinson! Why, sir, I never knew a gentleman so candid in legard to the public accounts. He furnished the public with a balancesheet that has nevei been produced since." Query What good purpose would it serve to pioduce Sn Harry's balance-sheet 9 v • « Mr. K. M. Smith is endeavouring to revolutionise modern warfare. He wants' a cartridge factory for Taranaki, as the material is right at hand, and we have plenty of "sulphur and charcoal" ; it would be right into our hands, especially as the War Office has "condemned cordite," and wants to "co back to powder." This is where the Smith revolution Gomes' in. Mr. Smith's charcoal and sulphur powder would be a grand idea for the other fellow. A line of men firing it would be distinguished a,t ten miles. There is nothing smokeless aiboo.it E. M. °